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Freeze Zucchini – Raw and Cooked: Here’s How

You can easily freeze zucchini and use it for cooking when it is not in season. You can do without plastic freezer bags – we will show you suitable alternatives.

Freeze zucchini: 12 months shelf life

Since zucchini is a seasonal vegetable, you should buy and freeze it from regional cultivation and organic quality during the season (June to October in Germany). So you can enjoy the summer squash all year round.

The courgettes will keep in the freezer the longest if you don’t cook them first:

Wash the courgettes and cut them into cubes or slices.
To keep your zucchini crunchy when defrosting, sprinkle them with a little salt. The salt draws moisture from the zucchini, making it easier to freeze.
After a few minutes, some water will form on the zucchini pieces. You can dab this off after five to ten minutes.
Then put the zucchini pieces in a screw-top jar and freeze them.
Frozen zucchini will keep for at least 12 months and retain their flavor.

Freezing zucchini cooked: what do you have to pay attention to?

Freezing cooked zucchini is especially worthwhile if you overcooked it. Then you don’t have to throw away the leftover zucchini. Again, you can put the zucchini in a screw-top jar to freeze them.

To prevent the zucchini from getting mushy when defrosting, you should defrost them very slowly at room temperature. Then heat them up briefly in a saucepan or pan.

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Cooking Tips

Peel Zucchini? Why the Skin Should Rather Stay On

If you don’t peel a zucchini, you not only save work and time: Read here about the advantages of peeling zucchini.

Do not peel zucchini – the skin is healthy

As with many other types of fruit and vegetables, the same applies to zucchini: the skin contains most of the vitamins. You also absorb important dietary fiber with the peel.

But it’s not just good for your health if you eat the shell. It also tastes better because the skin keeps the zucchini in shape as it heats. Without the skin, the vegetables quickly become mushy when they are boiled or fried. In addition, the pure pulp of the zucchini is not as aromatic as the skin.

So it would be a shame to throw the edible and particularly healthy part of a vegetable in the trash – especially since you have to do unnecessary extra work peeling it.

Also be careful with very bitter zucchini: If it tastes bitter, you shouldn’t eat it anymore. It’s rare, but if a zucchini tastes bitter, it contains too much curcubitacin, a toxic bitter compound. Neither cooking nor peeling helps against this substance, the zucchini is then no longer edible.

Pesticides on zucchini peel

Since the skin is eaten, you should pay particular attention to the origin of the vegetables: Zucchinis from organic farming are not treated with chemical-synthetic pesticides, but from conventional farming they are. Pesticides mostly remain on the peel. If you buy organic vegetables you ensure that the pesticides do not end up on your plate.

Also make sure that you buy zucchini seasonally and regionally. The zucchini season runs from July to October. During this time, the domestic zucchini are transported a comparatively short distance. Zucchini from distant countries, on the other hand, have long transport routes behind them, which means that significantly more greenhouse gases are emitted.

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Food

Vegan Biryani: Recipe for the Rice Dish with Zucchini and Carrots

Preparing biryani vegan is not difficult: You simply add some vegetables to the Asian rice stir-fry. We will introduce you to a biryani recipe and explain what you should pay attention to.

Biryani is a rice dish that comes from Asia. The dish is particularly popular in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The word “biryani” comes from Persian and means something like “fried”. The rice stir-fry is often prepared with meat, but you can make biryani vegan by adding your choice of vegetables, nuts or tofu to the rice.

We recommend looking for organic quality when buying the ingredients. This is how you avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides. Rice often comes from Southeast Asia and uses a lot of water to grow. Then there are the long transport routes to Europe. Rice that was grown in Europe (e.g. in Italy) is therefore ecologically more advisable. If you do use rice from countries further away, we recommend looking out for the fair trade seal. In this way you guarantee that manufacturers have observed human and labor rights during the production process and the long delivery routes.

Vegan Biryani: Recipe for the rice dish

Ingredients:

300 ml water
200 g basmati rice
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp curry spice
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika spice (sweet)
1carrot
1Zucchini
1 piece ginger (thumb size)
1 clove(s) garlic
1red onion
2 tablespoons oil
50 g cashew nuts

Directions:

Start cooking the rice. Put it in a pot with the water. Add salt and the spices. Let it gently simmer for five to ten minutes. It shouldn’t be raw anymore, but it shouldn’t be fully cooked either.
While the rice is cooking, you can grate the carrot and cut the zucchini into pieces.

Place the vegetables in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let it steep for five minutes. This will lightly pre-cook the carrot and zucchini so that the vegetables are not fried raw. Then drain the water again.

Now cut the ginger and garlic into small pieces as well. Then place the pieces in a mortar and grind them into a paste. This unfolds even more flavors. Tip: If you don’t have a mortar at home, you can also chop the ginger and garlic very small with a knife and press into a paste with the bottom of a spoon.

Gradually add the vegetables and finally the half-cooked rice.

Biryani with peanut sauce

As a dip for biryani, you can stir together a quick peanut sauce. The nutty taste goes very well with the dish. You need the following for this:

2 teaspoons fresh ginger, finely grated
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
65 g peanut butter without additives
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup (alternatively rice syrup or date syrup)
Juice of half a lime
1 pinch cayenne pepper or chilli powder
2 teaspoons water, as needed
First chop the ginger and garlic. Then mix all the ingredients together and stir them into a smooth sauce. You can garnish the sauce with peanuts or fresh herbs.

Soy sauce also goes well with the rice dish. You can simply pour it over the rice on the plate.

Possible variations for the Biryani

You can not only prepare the rice pan with zucchini and carrots, but also with other types of vegetables. Well suited are, for example, broccoli, peppers or mushrooms. It is best to buy seasonal vegetables that do not come from overseas but grow regionally or within Germany. This protects the climate and reduces CO2 emissions. Our seasonal calendar can help you with that.

In Asia, biryani is often prepared with meat. As a vegan alternative, you can use smoked tofu, for example. Cut the tofu into cubes and fry it in a pan or bake it in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius with top and bottom heat until crispy. Later you can sprinkle it on top of your biryani as a topping.

You can also replace the cashew nuts with other nuts. Peanuts, almonds or walnuts go just as well in biryani. Many nut varieties cannot be grown in Europe and are therefore imported from Africa, among other places. There they are sometimes grown under poor, inhumane working conditions. In order not to support this, you should look for a Fairtrade seal when buying the nuts.

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Food

Zucchini Bread: Juicy Recipe to Bake at Home

Zucchini bread is juicy and aromatic and adds variety to your diet. We’ll show you how to make the healthy bread yourself at home.

Zucchini bread is a tasty change from traditional bread recipes. With just a few ingredients you can make a juicy bread that you can serve with snacks, soups or as a snack in between.

Incidentally, you can get zucchini from German cultivation between June and October. For all other ingredients, too, we recommend using regional products wherever possible. This saves long transport routes and thus CO2 emissions.

When buying the ingredients, also pay attention to organic quality. In this way you support sustainable agriculture that does not use chemical-synthetic pesticides.

Zucchini Bread: This is how you make it yourself

Ingredients:

0.5 package(s) dry yeast (for 500g flour)
1 tsp sugar
40 ml lukewarm water
200 g flour
200 gzucchini
150 g almonds, ground
20 gflaxseed (crushed)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pinch(s) of salt
2 teaspoons bread spice
1 tbsp flour for the mold

Directions:

Mix the dry yeast with the sugar, the water and half of the flour. Mix everything together until there are no more lumps in the batter. Now let the mixture rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile: Wash the zucchini. Cut off the two ends and grate them roughly with a kitchen grater. Squeeze them lightly with your hands and drain off the excess liquid.
Now mix the remaining flour, the almonds, flaxseed, and the olive oil into the dough. Knead the dough thoroughly.
Now mix the dough with the grated zucchini, the bread spice, and a pinch of salt. If the dough is too wet or too dry, add a little more flour or water.

Let the dough rise again in a warm place for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle a loaf tin (length 26 cm) with some flour so that the bread can be removed more easily later. Bake the bread with top/bottom heat for 40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
Tip: To ensure that the zucchini bread lasts as long as possible, you should follow a few tips when storing it. You can find out more about this here: Storing bread – you should pay attention to this.

Serve zucchini bread: This goes well with it

Zucchini bread tastes especially good fresh out of the oven with a little margarine or butter. And the bread is also a good side dish for soups and dips:

  • You can serve zucchini bread with zucchini soup, butternut squash soup, pea soup, or wild garlic soup, for example.
  • On warm days, the bread is suitable as an accompaniment to a cold gazpacho.
  • You can make vegetable dips from fresh vegetables and herbs such as beetroot, wild garlic, or tomatoes and serve them with the bread.
  • The bread tastes particularly delicious with a light salad.

If you can’t finish the zucchini bread, freeze the bread. This way you avoid food waste and always have some homemade bread in the freezer.

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17 Amazing Facts About Zucchinis

A plant-like squash has long been included in cookbooks in many countries around the world. Many delicious dishes are prepared from zucchini, which are also highly useful. The variety of food in which this vegetable is used is amazing – there are both independent dishes and countless side dishes.

  1. Some of these can be eaten raw as an ingredient in salads.
  2. The younger the zucchini, the tastier they are. Older fruits have a less intense flavor.
  3. From the point of view of botany, squash is a pumpkin.
  4. The homeland of zucchini is Mexico. The locals ate them even before the arrival of the conquistadors, however, they did not eat the vegetables themselves, but only their seeds.
  5. In the French and Greek national cuisine, there are dishes made from squash flowers.
  6. The largest vegetable marrow in the world was grown in 1998. Its weight exceeded 61 kg.
  7. Because of their low-calorie content, these vegetables are often included in many different diets.
  8. Regular consumption of zucchini in food slows down the process of graying hair.
  9. Masks made from crushed squash pulp are popular in cosmetology. They nourish and moisturize the skin well.
  10. After they were introduced to Europe in the 16th century, they were cultivated for a long time exclusively for decorative purposes.
  11. They are distinguished by their tenderness, in the sense that they are easy to damage. And zucchini with damaged skin quickly deteriorates even in the refrigerator.
  12. 100 g of zucchini contains only about 25-27 kilocalories.
  13. They are also high in vitamin C, although they taste not at all sour.
  14. In the world, no one has ever had an allergy to zucchini.
  15. Many types of squash can be harvested as early as a month and a half after sowing their seeds. If, of course, conditions are favorable.
  16. The inhabitants of Italy were the first to guess to eat the zucchini themselves, and not their seeds or flowers.
  17. Botanists claim that, like pumpkin, squash is, strictly speaking, a berry.
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Low Carb Zucchini Pizza

Ahh, who doesn’t love it: a crispy slice of pizza with melted cheese. It’s hard to say no to that. But if you follow a low-carb diet, you can quickly remove the Italian delicacy from your menu. But there is no reason for that! In addition to the cauliflower pizza, there is also the zucchini pizza, which is low in carbohydrates and delicious at the same time!

Low carb pizza

Just because you eat low-carb doesn’t mean you have to miss out on a delicious pizza. You just have to know how to bake the low-carb pizza. And the zucchini pizza is perfect for that. Flour out, zucchini in.

Zucchinis are popular in low-carb cuisine because they have a very low carbohydrate content. In addition, they are also very low in calories and contain little fat: just one percent! It also contains a lot of potassium, magnesium, and iron.

A slice of the cheesy zucchini pizza contains just 90 kilocalories and you can of course get creative with the preparation. This is the basic recipe for a low-carb zucchini pizza, but if you want to add even more low-carb ingredients, there are no limits here.

The recipe for the low-carb zucchini pizza

For 1 pizza

  • 1 large zucchini (each approx. 300 g)
  • 1 egg
  • 125g mozzarella
  • 50g grated Parmesan
  • 5 tbsp tomato sauce
  • clove of garlic
  • chili flakes
  • Salt
  • pepper
  • basil

Preparation steps

  1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees and line the baking tray with baking paper.
  2. Place a kitchen towel in a colander. Wash and grate the courgettes and put them in the kitchen towel in the colander. Salt the zucchini mixture and leave to stand for about ten minutes. Then wring out the cloth with the zucchini firmly.
  3. Mix the zucchini mass with the egg, 50 grams of mozzarella, and the Parmesan to form a dough.
  4. Place the zucchini dough on the baking sheet and press it into a round shape, the base should be relatively thin. Bake the zucchini base in the oven at 200 degrees (top/bottom heat) for about 20 minutes.
  5. Now season the tomato sauce with salt, pepper, chili flakes, and some garlic. After 20 minutes turn the pizza base over and spread the seasoned tomato sauce on top. Scatter the remaining mozzarella over the pizza and bake for 15 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil leaves.
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Eating Zucchini Raw: Benefits and Possible Dangers

Eating zucchini raw is actually very healthy. But is it true that raw zucchini can be poisonous? Here you can find out everything you need to know.

Eating zucchini raw: these are the advantages

Basically, there is nothing wrong with eating zucchini raw, quite the opposite: zucchini eaten raw is considered to be particularly healthy. It contains iron, a lot of vitamin C and vitamin A – if it is heated, many nutrients and vitamins are lost.

Zucchini should also not be peeled, as the peel contains most of the vitamins. If you wash the shell thoroughly, you can eat it without hesitation.

Due to their high water content, zucchinis are also filling and have comparatively few calories. But what about the rumor that you can’t eat zucchini raw?

When not to eat zucchini raw?

The problem with zucchinis are bitter substances called cucurbitacins:

Like other cucurbits, zucchini naturally contains cucurbitacins. In large quantities, these bitter substances can lead to digestive problems or even food poisoning.
Commercially available zucchini are special breeds that do not contain cucurbitacins. You can eat these without hesitation.
Be careful with homegrown zucchini. In your own garden, under certain circumstances, backcrosses can form, which again contain cucurbitacins.
Cucurbitacins are heat resistant and poorly soluble in water. Therefore, they are also preserved during cooking.
You can recognize an inedible zucchini by its strongly bitter taste.
Store-bought zucchini can always be eaten raw. If you grow your own zucchini, do a taste test first. Bitter-tasting zucchini contain poisonous cucurbitacins and should not be eaten raw or cooked.

Not just with raw zucchini: be careful with these fruits too

Legumes like beans and chickpeas contain phasin. This is a protein that is absorbed into the blood via the intestines and, in high doses, can cause the red blood cells to stick together. It can also cause indigestion and vomiting. Boil chickpeas for at least 15 minutes, then the phasin will become harmless.
Raw potatoes that have sprouted or green spots may contain solanine. This alkaloid causes various symptoms of intoxication in high doses. However, if you remove the affected areas of the potato, you can cook and eat it as usual.
Eggplants also naturally contain solanine. Due to targeted breeding, dangerous amounts are rarely contained here, but to be on the safe side you should only eat ripe, dark purple fruits.
Rhubarb is one of the plants that contains a particularly large amount of oxalic acid. In addition to other symptoms of poisoning, this can promote the development of kidney and bladder stones. The leaves of the rhubarb contain the most oxalic acid, you should definitely not eat them. The sticks lose the toxic substance when cooked.
Elderberries contain the toxin sambunigrin, which releases hydrocyanic acid and can cause abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. Again, you should only eat ripe fruit that has had the stems, leaves, and seeds removed. The fruits of the elder are only harmless after they have been boiled for at least 20 minutes.
Overall, few types of fruit and vegetables are inherently poisonous. For many, however, it depends on the right maturity and preparation.

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